1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to a method and apparatus for securely storing and disseminating information regarding individuals and, more particularly, to a computer system for authenticating identity or verifying the identity of individuals and other entities seeking access to certain privileges and for selectively granting privileges and providing other services in response to such identifications/verifications.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Dissemination of information regarding various entities, including individuals, in society is conventionally done in a non-centralized fashion, often requiring specialized knowledge of a likely storage location to access the information. This specialized knowledge may not be available when the information is needed, thus effectively preventing distribution of the information when required. For example, a doctor in an emergency room may desire access to a patient's medical history in determining a course of treatment. If the person is not carrying a complete medical record, which is typically the situation, the medical records may not be available to the doctor. Even if these medical records are available electronically, for example via a computer accessible in the person's regular doctor's office, the records may effectively be unavailable if the person is unconscious or otherwise incapacitated or if restrictions on access to the doctor's records cannot otherwise be overcome. The retrieval of required medical records can be further complicated by the fact that such records can be located at a number of different sites/systems which are not linked. For example, the patient's primary care physician may not have records from a specialist treating the patient, and none of these physicians may have dental records. Similar problems arise in other environments where relevant data may be scattered and/or otherwise difficult to access.
Identification of a person from other persons within a society and verification of a person as being who he says he is are extremely important for many reasons. For example, determination/verification of a person's identity will typically dictate extension of credit, granting access to information, allowing entry to a restricted area, or the granting of numerous other privileges.
Most people carry multiple forms of identification. For example, a typical person may carry an identification card issued by a federal, state, or local governmental entity, an identification card issued by a university or place of employment, one or more credit cards that serve to identify the person as a holder of a credit card account, one or more bank cards that serve to identify the person as holder of a bank account, medical information cards identifying the person as a member of, for example, a health maintenance organization or as a person holding an insurance policy from a specified insurance company, keys that identify the person as owner of an automobile, house, etc., and numerous other identification cards that may be used for specialized purposes, such as identifying the person as a member of a health club, a library, or a professional organization.
To enable the person to function effectively in society, the person must typically have one or more of these identification devices with them if they wish to undertake an associated activity. For example, a person is not allowed to drive a car or purchase alcohol without a governmentally issued driver's license. Likewise, although cash may be used to purchase goods and/or services, the person will typically not be able to purchase goods and/or services with a credit card if the person is not physically carrying the credit card. Similarly, most hospitals and other medical facilities will require proof of insurance before rendering medical attention. Carrying these multifarious identification devices can become onerous. Additionally, if one or more of the identification devices is lost, stolen or forgotten, it can be inconvenient, making it difficult to obtain goods or services requiring the missing identification.
There are also times when the individual may wish to be identified or at least verified without providing personal information. For example, a person may wish to purchase goods and/or services without publicly providing his/her credit card information for fear that the credit card information be may be stolen and used fraudulently. Likewise, the person may wish to purchase goods or order goods to be delivered to an address without revealing the address to the vendor. Unfortunately, conventional identification devices require that at least some personal information be transmitted to complete a transaction.
There are other related problems. For example, when there is a need to locate a person or other entity where only limited biographical data is known, this can be difficult since relevant information is seldom available from a single database. Another potential problem is the forwarding of mail, packages, telephone calls/messages, e-mails and other items where a party is in a situation where they are changing location frequently and/or where the person does not want such information to be generally available for security or other reasons. A simple, yet secure, way of dealing with such issues does not currently exist.
Another potential problem is filling in forms, particularly for an individual who frequently has to complete the same or similar form. Such forms can for example be medical forms when visiting a doctor or entering a hospital, immigration forms on entering the country, employment forms, college entry forms, etc. It would be desirable if such forms could be completed once and be available for future use, and it would be even better if the information for each such form could be automatically drawn from an existing database to complete the form. There is also a frequent requirement to periodically update information in a form, for example financial information for a line of credit. It would be desirable if such updates could be automatically performed from data in a general database.
Still another potential problem is that a person may be forced to make requests on a database, for example financial requests, under duress. It would be desirable if the person could easily and undetectably signal such duress when making the request and the receiving system be able to act appropriately to assist and protect the individual.
Systems capable of effectively performing all of these functions do not currently exist.